ALHAMBRA >> One day after a viral cell phone video taken by an Alhambra man confronting a female package thief in front of his home made the suspect an overnight celebrity, police arrested the woman Friday afternoon, officials said.

Rianna Medina, 20, of Montebello was booked on suspicion of grand theft — a felony — after officers found her about 1 p.m. at a motel in Rosemead, according to Alhambra police Sgt. Jerry Johnson.

“The woman seen in the now-viral video stealing packages from the front porch of an Alhambra home last Tuesday has been arrested.

The arrest was the result of “tips and social media messages and using what can only be described as ‘old-fashion police work,’“ the sergeant said. “She was taken into custody without incident.”

Medina is accused of a package theft caught on camera Tuesday when the resident arrived home in the middle of the crime and confronted the suspect with a cell phone camera in-hand.

The video, which was released by police in hopes of generating clues, quickly spread across the nation via the internet.

“If I was you, I’d put those down,” the homeowner tells the woman, who tried to argue that her mother lived at the home, not the resdient.

But the woman dropped the packaged and walked away immediately once the man told her he was calling the police.

Police thanked those who called in tips or provided information via social media, Johnson said.

“The public’s cooperation greatly assisted our detectives in identifying and locating this suspect,” he said. “It is often times difficult to find people who are willing to come forward and share information. We appreciate everyone’s contribution.”

Brian Day has covered crime and breaking news for the Southern California News Group since 2007. He’s a graduate of California State University, Fullerton and Cerritos College in Norwalk. He loves dogs and has a pet German shepherd, which in turn, has a pet cat. Brian is a local news junkie, a licensed drone pilot and a part-time science geek with an unfortunate predilection for puns.

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